The present invention relates to battery devices, and more particularly to a high voltage rechargeable battery pack having an electrical contact arrangement for eliminating a shock hazard.
Various forms of rechargeable battery packs and battery devices have been devised. A notable example is the battery and charging system for present-day electronic flash units used in the photographic field. The typical electronic flash unit includes a set of rechargeable batteries, the voltage of which is stepped up by a DC/DC converter in the flash unit to provide the relatively high (250-400 volts) voltage used for powering the flash tube of the flash unit. High voltage battery packs have been provided for such flash units (such as the Vivitar Corporation high voltage battery pack Model HVP-1) for use with electronic flash units (such as the Vivitar Model 283 electronic flash unit) so as to enable the photographer to take a large number of pictures both quickly (because the recycle time of the flash unit can be reduced through the use of the high voltage battery system) and in large numbers (because of the high capacity of the battery pack). These units employ a disposable 510 volt carbon zinc battery.
The low voltage battery systems usually incorporated within the typical electronic flash unit are quite suitable for many applications, but they may not provide a sufficiently large number of electronic flashes and fast recycle time desired by professional and semi-professional photographers. While a high voltage battery pack such as that which uses the carbon zinc battery noted above solves these problems of recycle time and number of flashes, such disposable batteries are relatively expensive.